Fall at it's Finest!

Signs of fall have been starting to show over the last week or so, though I am sad to see summer go I am looking forward to this fall season! Though the leaves are just starting to turn we decided to fully embrace fall today! We started out with a convinent meet up with Darek, Steph, & Tobiah at Caribou. I got my most favoritest drink (which I reserve for fall and winter), a hot apple blast (like apple cider x 10! love it)! Yummmmmmy!

Then we headed to the apple orchard! Steph and I started going to this apple orchard, gosh probably 6 years ago or so and I think I have been back every year! It was fun to start bringing Jaxon Bear when we got him and now this year it was so fun to bring Zeker and Tobester with too! Both babies were their perfectly wonderful selves and they loved looking at everything that was going on! It will be so fun to take them again next year when they will be running around!

how tall is Tobes?

What about Zeke?

Can't forget about Jaxon Bear! This is his 3rd year getting this pic taken!

Bears and Babies!

Corn Maze Time!

I really love this pic! We didn't know they were back there

My baby!



Checking out the goats, the mom was trying to ram through the fence and get Jaxon, Yikes!

Petting the llama

Toby petting the llama

Getting on the hayride

Jaxon is an expert at hayrides!

Tobes too!

Jaxon enjoying the hayride

Zeke's first hayride

Cute Tobes!

Cute Zeke!

Cute Jaxon Bear!

So true! We tried to get one of Jaxon, but he wasn't having it! But we have one from last year!

Hungry and worn out after a fun day at the apple orchard!

Such a wonderful day! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! These are memories I will treasure forever! Now if the Viking would of just won...:-p but that's a whole other topic!

Labor Day Weekend

We had quite the adventurous weekend!
Grandma Bear went up to my aunt and uncle's cabin for the weekend and Grandpa Bear came up to stay with us (like he does most weekends). The boys headed to my aunt and uncles to pick up some bushes and plants that they have so graciously given to us as they are redoing their landscaping and then they got them all planted. (I will blog about our backyard transformation as soon as it's finished, which should be soon!)

Then on Saturday we headed to the State Fair with Darek, Steph, & Toby, Mark and Katie, and then also Steph's dad, Dana (he lives in AZ, but has moved in with Darek and Steph to help babysit Toby). We had a blast at the fair, but it was quite the different experience than years past! Having babies in tow always adds a level of excitement and extra stuff! But overall we did really well! Zeke slept all of 30 min, which doesn't surprise me because he is quite the observer, as I have previously talked about. He is afraid that if he falls asleep then he will miss something! We ended up heading out before the rest of the crew because Zeke hadn't napped all day and it was nearing bedtime. He did great up until the last 15 minutes and then we melted down! Here are pictures of our adventures!

Steph, Toby, & Dana

Mike, Zeke, & the Vikes

Bjorning around the State Fair

New duckies in the Miracle Barn

Deep fried Mac & Cheese on a stick, only appropriate!

18 inch corn dog for my Michael!

Ridiculous!

Then on Sunday night we went to Darek & Steph's for dinner and a bonfire! It was Zeke and Toby's first bonfire and it was a perfect night for it, the first cooler evening of fall! Bittersweet! We didn't get to stick around too long for the bonfire as it was approaching Zeke's bedtime and he was hungry and tired. So we just headed home, so we missed out on the smores and burning of their Christmas tree (they videoed it for us tho and it was quite the sight to see! now i can understand how forest fires occur so quickly)! Hopefully they will still be time for another bonfire and smores before the snow flies!

Then on Monday Great Grandma Smith came to town to meet Tobiah for the first time and after she did that she stopped by our house to see Zeke again! This time I remembered to get some pictures of them together!

It was a wonderful weekend full of fun, family, and friends! Perfection!

3 Months Old!

How in the world did that happen?!?!

I had to share our monthly photo shoot pictures! I will write more later!

Getting so big!

Love those chubby cheeks!

We Bumbo chair it up now!

I love that they have the same look on their faces! :-)

Group kido picture!

Hope you enjoyed!

How did you grow so big so soon?

(Started Friday)
That is my question to Ezekiel these days!

Before I get into that I have to preface this blog with and explanation of the title of the blog. A while back, probably 5-6 years ago when I was living with Darek and Steph one day Steph came home with this book (I can't remember where she got it from now) and the title is "How did you grow so big so soon?". We kind of joked about her getting it as they were obviously kid free at the time. Then after that we would randomly (as there are a lot of random things said in my family, mostly by Darek) say "How did you grow so big so soon?". Then when they got Hunny, Darek would say that to her all the time too. Then we kind of let it go and it has been a few years since I had heard that line, until just a week or two ago I was commenting on how fast Zeke was growing and how big he was getting. And then Darek says it..."Zeker, how did you grow so big so soon?". Finally its being used in the right context! We will have to read the book to Ezekiel and Tobiah as they continue to "grow so big so soon"! lol!
 

Zeke & Tobes

But I find myself looking at him in amazement, just wondering how it is that he can be growing so fast! As I have talked about, he def still has the most pinchable cheeks, but he is also getting SO long! I notice this the most when Mike is burping him, he is the length of Mike's torso, and also when I am feeding him, his feet are almost hanging off of the boppy pillow! So crazy! Also he is already fitting comfortably into 6 month clothes! Just incase you forgot, he is 11 weeks! But he is totally taking after his dad and mom tho, because both Mike and I were chubos when we were his age!

He is continuing to smile a ton! He is such a joyful baby! It's so fun! He is talking a lot, and it is so fun to "conversate" with him! He is continuing to observe things, I can tell that he is a little sponge and is taking it all in. He loves to watch the Vikings games! That's what he has been doing while I am writing this, just chilling out in his bouncer talking to me and watch the game! He is enjoying his swing now finally, so that has been fun to start to use! Last night we took him for his first walk with the jogging stroller without using his carseat. He maybe a bit young for that, but he doesn't like to be in his carseat on walks because he can't see anything (as I mentioned he is quite the observer)! So I thought we would give it a try just going into the stroller itself and he totally loved it! He could see everything! So we will continue to do that for sure! He also loves looking at his curtians, I know I mentioned that before, but it is just so funny how they captivate him! So a big thanks again to Auntie Steppy for making them!


How could you not love to look at these curtians?

Another fun thing we like to do is pull up VeggieTales or another kids video on Netflix on my phone and cuddle on the couch and watch it together. Gotta love technology! 

Excuse the bed head, we had just woken up for the day!

(Continued Sunday) Its crazy how time flies! As you can see is started this blog on Friday and am just getting back to it now! Granted we had a bunch of stuff going on over the weekend but between his cluster feedings, staying awake more now, and trying to get everything else done in between, its tough to get the little things done! I am trying to remember to keep blogging a priority as we want to keep our family and friends up on the happenings of our family and also I want to have all the little things documented for us to look back on as he grows up! Also, now I have no idea where I was going with this blog! So with that...Have a wonderful Labor Day! And I will try to knock out another blog here sooner than later!


P.S. I am loving him in these legwarmers!

2 Months Old!

I cannot believe that my sweet baby boy is already 2 months old! It seems like just yesterday that he was born, but then at the same time it seems like he has always been apart of our family!

2 Months Ago!

1 Month Ago!

Now! He's getting so big

There is an amazing amount of joy that he has added to our lives, an amount that I never knew possible and never knew I was missing! Our life BZ (before Zeke) was so wonderful! We had a ton of fun spending time with family and friends, being active, spending time with the pups, traveling, ect. We were def not lacking in the happy department and I didn't think it could get much better! Boy was I wrong! Z has just added another wonderful level of joy to our family, it reminds me of how it was when we first got Jaxon Bear. We were happy campers before hand, but then he just made life that much better! And now the same with Ezekiel!

I know people say (and we heard it a million times) get ready life is about to change! Some said it in a good way, some said it in a less than good way. Our life has changed for sure, but its for the better, don't get me wrong we still have moments of frustrations, but I do my best to take them all in stride and stay thankful for the little miracle that he is! Even those mornings when he wakes up before I would like to be up (which is most, as one of my favorite hobbies is sleeping :-P) and I begrudgingly pick him up out of his bassinet with my eyes still closed and set him on his changing table and finally open my eyes and look down at him as I begin to unswaddle him and he gives me the biggest smile. My heart melts instantly and in that moment I am reminded how blessed I am to be his mom!

Gotta love those cheeks!

Ezekiel Update:
He had his 2 month well baby visit today. He came in at a grand total of 13 pounds 8 ounce (90%), 23 1/2 inches (75%), and his head was 39.5 cm (45%)! We could tell that he has been growing by leaps and bounds and Mike and I were both super chubby babies, so we weren't really surprised by how big he is. Everything else at his check up looked great! His blocked tear duct cleared up a couple weeks ago, so no more gunky eye! Yeah! I was happy that I didn't have to be a "meany mommy" at this visit as we did not do any vaccinations (yet)! I am still on the fence about doing them or not doing them. I understand why they are important, but I am cautious of the side effects. And from what I have come across in my research it seems as if the chances of getting most of the illnesses are as likely as having a negative side effect from the vaccination. So its hard for me to justify having them done! I have a lot more thoughts on this and maybe I will blog more about it at a later date! I think I have found a good pediatrician for Z too, which is such a good feeling! It seems as though he will respect my decisions and he is SO good with Ezekiel too!

Ezekiel continues to be a rockstar baby! He still is an awesome sleeper! He sleeps through the night most nights with a random night here or there where he will get up once around 3 or 4. PTL for that! He continues to be a great eater and his cheeks are the proof of that! They are def squeezable! I have never had the urge to squeeze a babies cheeks before and always thought it was kind of odd, but now I understand! I try not to do it, but sometimes I just can't fight the urge! LOL! He is spending a lot more time awake during the day, which is a lot of fun and definitely something that took a little getting used to! He is enjoying time in his bouncer now and spends a lot of his awake hours in it looking around and observing everything or watching VeggieTales! He loves it when anyone plays with him or shows him new things but he is also very content hanging out by himself. He also holds up his head really good and is really strong!

Tummy time!

He is pretty much right on track as far as all the developmental things that he is supposed to be doing at this age and as I mentioned earlier he is smiling so much now! We are blessed with such a happy baby! I would like to think that this milestone of learning to smile will always be one of my favorites (even though I know there will be a lot of other amazing ones to come)! I just truly love every smile that I get from him and also find so much joy in seeing others laugh when he gives them one of his famous toothless grins! His smile truly is a little piece of heaven!

Last Monday I went back to work part time, I am in the office Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8-2. The nice thing about returning to work is the my boss is letting me bring Ezekiel with me for a few weeks! And Z has been a really good boy while at work with me! He pretty much sleeps until 10 or 11ish and that is when we are finished seeing patients for the morning, so it works out perfect as I just have him sleeping upstairs in one of the offices in his carseat. Then once patients are gone I feed him and then he hangs out downstairs with me and for the most part he has been really good during this time too! So I am very thankful that this arrangement is working out so well because I was a little nervous going into it that it may not. Because obviously if he is fussy and won't chill out or sleep we would have to go home and if we had too many days like that then I think my boss may put a kabosh on the situation. So it is very relieving that it is working out so well!

This last Saturday was the first preseason game for the Vikings so of course we had to watch it!

Mike was SO excited, it was so fun to see him share this moment with our little boy as I know it is something that he has looked forward to for a long time! My parents were staying with us for the weekend so they joined us watching the game, along with Darek, Steph, Toby, and Hunny! Then after a while Jamie, Gabe, Addie, and Jamie's dad and step mom stopped by to hang out for a bit. It was so fun to see Zeke watch the game, we put him in the bouncer and put him in front of the TV and he sat there so content and watched the game as Mike explained to him what was going on!

This last month he also got to meet his cousin Ellie (Mike's oldest brother Jeb's daughter)! Jeb and Ellie came to visit and we went for his first visit to the Mall of America and then they spent the night, it was a ton of fun to have them come and visit! Then last weekend we went up North to Mike's family cabin near Hibbing. Zeke got to meet a lot of his aunts, uncles, and cousins on Mike's side of the family. It was a cool day so we hung out inside the cabin for the most part, but it was really nice to visit everyone and catch up!

There are a million other things that I could write about that have happened this month and I am sure I am missing some important ones, but I must wrap this post up as I have been working on it for 3 days now! Such is life as a mommy, right?

Jaxon wanted to get in on picture time!

Brotherly love!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

This last Friday was a day that I had been looking forward to for quite sometime now and though it wasn't quite as I envisioned it to be it was still very special, fun, and interesting to say the least! :-P

As you may of guessed by the title of the post, we took Z-man to his first Twins game (though you wouldn't of known it, you woulda thought it was a t-ball team playing against the White Sox)!

My brother has season tickets and so earlier this year when he had the schedule available they let us pick any games that we would like to go to, as they have in previous years. This year we only bought tickets to one game as we weren't sure if I would really be up for heading out to the ballpark while pregnant and then if we would want to bring Zeke to too many games. So we figured we would just buy one set to be safe. But this time instead of just buying 2 tickets we bought all 4 and we gave the other 2 tickets to my dad (& mom) for Father's Day.

For those of you that are not overly familiar with my family, we are a baseball family! The love of the game goes all the way back to my grandpa Harry (my dad's dad) and maybe further, I guess, I'm not sure. My dad played baseball growing up and so did my brother, I personally wasn't overly interested in the game until my brother got season tickets in college and my family (my best friends) spent many weekends at the dome (what we were thinking when we thought that was a good place to watch baseball)! So I adopted the mentality instead of trying to beat them, why not join them! So I started going just to hang out and I started asking questions and learning a lot, I did have two of the best teachers out there, and inadvertently I began to really enjoy the game! Then when Mike came along and quickly learned that along with me came my family and along with my family came baseball! Our first date was actually with my family at a Twins game! He had some things to quickly learn, one thing for example is that the Schwarz family does not participate in "the wave". As my dad says, people just do "the wave" when they are bored at the games and there is no reason to be bored so there fore we do not do "the wave"! So now the Bemis family is now also a baseball family (but it takes a close second to us being a football family, that's our #1)!

So when I found out I was pregnant and that we were having a boy I was so excited to have our little man go to his first of many baseball games with my family! And I know this is something that my dad has been looking forward to for many years, so I was so excited to have it finally take place!

So on Friday we all got our Twins gear on (Ezekiel too) and jumped in the car and headed to the game! We toted Zeke around in the Baby Bjorn, which worked great!

When we got there we headed down to the Twins dugout and had a short photo shoot!

Then we walked around for a while and everyone got their food of choice and we also stopped off at the guest service desk to get Ezekiel's "1st Twins Game" certificate! Then we headed for our seats as the game was about to start which unfortunately did not last long! Our seats were behind home plate and under the over hang, so every time something good happened (which was often in the first inning as they scored 3 runs (and none for the rest of the game) and everyone would cheer it was so loud because the sound resonated right where we were and freaked Z out! I have never seen a bigger pouty lip in all my life (though my dad disagrees, he thinks he knows where Zeke got it from, I don't know what he's talking about)! So my mom and I bolted and ended up taking him to the top level (where it was also cooler) and we ended up finding a random chair under a stairwell, my mom went and got my dad and mike (as both mine and my mom's cell phones were dead!) and then we sat there for the remainder of the game!

As long as his feedings a diaper changes came regularly Zeke was a happy camper and we had a lot of fun even though the Twins were playing pretty terribly!

It was so special for me to see my hubby, dad, and son hanging out together and bonding over baseball!

My dad was teaching Z all about the game and telling him what the Twins need to do to be better. We decided that Zeke will be the first player again in a long time to play both football and baseball professionally! :-) We also decided that he should play 1st base and he will be a home run hitter for sure! That is if he wants to, of course! But why would he not?! :-p

I will leave you with my favorite picture from the night!

3 of my favorite guys in the world! love them all!